Size of the Dog
by PTH12
Summary: Katie Bell loves her friends. But she's also getting sick of being considered the little sister of the group. She can't help being small!
1. Chapter 1

5'3" is not short. I promise you, it's not. Not for a girl, anyways. In fact, I'm sure it's a pretty average height for 16 year old girls! It's actually the people that I hang out with that are unbelievably abnormal. I mean Alicia is the closest in height to me standing at a willowy 5'6," and I don't even stand a chance against Amazon Angelina at 5'10". Then there's Fred and George who clock in at a completely un-average 6'5" each. See what I mean? _These_ are the un-average, not _me_! But unfortunately I, Katie Bell, am the one who must endure the endless reminders of my lack of vertical…prowess.

"Oy Shrimp! Pass the potatoes, will you?" George's loud request shaking me from my thoughts.

I grumpily shoved them in his direction, and as he scooped a mountain onto his plate I aimed my spoon catapult right between his eyes.

"FIRE!" I yelled, releasing the spoonful of mashed potatoes, watching it sail across the table and pelt him directly in the face. "And the crowd goes wild!" I cheered, pumping my fists above my head in victory. Everyone sitting near me groaned in anticipation of what I had started.

"Ooooh you're in for it little one!" George jeered back. Loading his own catapult before I had time to react, he lobbed a gentle potato bomb into a tall arc. Fork and knife at the ready to defend myself, I watched the trajectory high above me as it sailed downward.

Maybe it was the fact I had just come from double potions, so my brain was a little fuzzy, or maybe I was just being dumb and forgot rule number one of food catapult fights: it's never one versus one. Because George and Fred fight as one unit.

So there I was, looking straight up like a doof, leaving myself entirely exposed to attack. Which Fred, being the evil mastermind he is, picked up on it immediately. He grabbed the ketchup bottle and squirted it directly at me.

"GAHhhhhh!" I realized my mistake right away, as my entire front became covered in ketchup. The potato bomb George had sent finally landed with a plop on my head. I knew I only stood one chance for redemption. Moving as quickly as my body could handle, I jumped up on the bench grabbed two pitchers of pumpkin juice, and gave Fred and George a much needed shower.

"Mwahaha!" I cackled evilly as their red hair flopped over their eyes. "You can't beat the food fight master!" They both just grinned up at me with their stupid little Weasley smirks, and the next thing I knew I landed on my back on the cold stone floor with a thud. _Ouch._

"Sorry Katie, you'll have to do better than that if you want to outsmart _us!"_ They high fived and grinned down at me. I really must have been dumb that night because I had forgotten rule number two of food catapult fights: Fred and George's legs were long enough to kick the bench out from under me. _My _legs were barely long enough to reach the floor when I sat down.

"Unfair use of leg length!" I called from the ground, but Fred just cleared the width of the table and demonstrated the third and most important rule of food catapult fights: Never, under any circumstances, do you _ever_ leave yourself vulnerable to tickle attacks.

So as Fred legitimately tried to tickle me to death, George began to pelt me with peas and baby carrots.

I could practically hear Alicia and Angelina rolling their eyes from my position on the floor , even over my incessant screeching and snorting.

"Stop! Please! I surrender! White flag! White flag!" I managed to squeak out despite the tickle torture.

"Fine, fine. You've learned your lesson, I suppose" Fred relented, and being the gentleman he is, did not help me up from the floor.

"Katie, babe, get up I can see your underwear." Ahh Angelina, always the delicate one, I thought.

"Don't you like them? Polka dots!" I replied as I heaved myself off the ground. Angelina just sighed. I think I frustrate her when I'm not lady-like enough for her. I looked down at myself ketchup drenching my sweater, potatoes and carrots in my hair, and peas squished onto my robes from all the rolling around, and I knew I must be killing her right now.

"What you don't like my new look?" I fluttered my eyelashes in her direction, "I heard its all the new rage!" I strutted all the table like a fashion model wearing a gown, not their dinner. The twins wolf whistled and clapped, cracking up all the while, and Angelina finally cracked a smile.

"Honestly, you are _crazy_!" was all she could manage. I propped my head up on my hands and licked some stray ketchup off my cheek.

"Yeah but would you want me any other way?" I fluttered my eyelashes again.

"I would most certainly want you to act differently. Perhaps more…civilized?"

I ever so slowly turned around to meet the hook-nosed face of none other but Severus Snape. All I could manage was a weak "Heh, heh" as my stomach dropped to the floor.

"Miss Bell, Twin 1, 2, detention, my office, Saturday night. Don't forget your gloves."

* * *

Fred and George didn't seem to upset as we walked back up to the common room.

"It was worth it." George laughed. He ruffled my hair in that little kid way "just to see the look on your face when Snape told you to act civilized!" He wiped his hand on the leg of his pants to get rid of the mashed potatoes from my hair.

"Yeah," Fred agreed, "and I think Snape liked you polka dots just about as much as Angelina did!"

All I could do was bury my face in my hands, "He saw my knickers?"

The two of them found that to be just about the funniest thing they had ever heard, and could barely walk through the portrait hole without falling over.

"Whatever, you two, I'm going to shower!" And with that, I stomped up the stairs to my dormitory.

* * *

"Awww c'mon Katie Cat, you know we were just joking! If Snape actually ever looked up your skirt you know me and Georgie-boy would hex the life out of him!" Fred pleaded as I glared him down from the top of the stairs after my shower. I wasn't really mad at them I just liked to hear them grovel.

"Yeah Kitten, please come down stairs! We need help with Charms homework!" George whined. I just gave a big harrumph and kept my arms crossed as I padded over to them by the fire. Before I knew what was happening the scooped me up onto the couch right between them and practically squished me to death with their strong beater arms.

"Ahhh, our little Katie back with us again!" Fred sighed mockingly.

"I'm not _that_ little!" I tried to say, but the hug muffled it into something like "hmm hmmmhmmmm!"

"love you too!" The twins replied in unison.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Honestly, I was trying so _so _hard. But it was like my head had a mind of its own! Even with my hand propping it up on my desk, my head just kept nodding downward. I even purposefully dropped my quill on the ground a few times to try and wake myself up. But it was no use, my head kept nodding and my eyes kept drooping, and it wasn't helping that the air was so warm it was like blankets! And it's not as if Professor Binns' lectures are riveting stuff anyways, so it was only natural to fall asleep, right? Me being this tired wasn't even _my_ fault! It was bloody Oliver Wood's fault! This was the third morning this week he dragged the Gryffindor quidditch team out of bed at 4:30 in the morning for practice!

So the lack of a normal sleeping pattern, and Binns' incessant droning, and the blanket air would have made _anyone _fall asleep. I closed my eyes for about one second when a paper airplane started pecking my head. I groaned inwardly and unfolded it, revealing Fred's untidy scrawl:

_Morning Sunshine! You've been sleeping for half an hour._

I peeked over to where Fred sat in the back corner and he grinned and twinkled his fingers at me. Obviously he was still full of energy. Maybe he knows an anti-blanket air spell or something.

_It's been five minutes tops._ I sent back.

_Then why is there a puddle of drool of your desk?_

Ahhh touché. And before I could respond class was dismissed, and I booked it out of there. It was Friday afternoon and classes were finally done for the week, and a bunch of us had planned to go hang out by the lake, as it was unseasonably warm for October today.

The twins caught up with me easily, one of their strides equaling about three of my own.

"What's the rush Kitten Cat?" Fred asked.

"I _need_ to be outside. NOW! It's practically a crime they kept us locked inside on such a beautiful day like today. How could you _not _want to be outside?" I practically yelled at him. But I couldn't help it, being cooped inside makes me snippy.

"Hey we're on your side!" George replied, "No need for the accusatory tone!" He smiled down at me and pulled hard on my brown pony tail. I growled and punched him hard in the arm.

"Ouch that actually really hurt!" He rubbed his bicep.

I just stuck my tongue out at him and skipped towards the common room.

* * *

_Finally_. I love the feeling of grass between my toes. Shoes are extremely overrated, I'm telling you. I mean, we were given feet for a reason, so we might as well use them!

It was gloriously warm out. Shorts and a t shirt were more than enough clothing to be comfortable in this weather. You know that feeling when you can feel the sun on your skin and it's such an intense amount of light and heat that it practically infuses you with energy? Well, it was one of those kind of days. I _live_ for these days.

By the time Angelina, Alicia, and the Twins caught up to me I was virtually vibrating with excess energy. So naturally, I pounced.

"Weeeee!" I cried in joy and jumped right into Fred's arms. It's one of the very few advantages of being small. It's easier for people to catch you.

"Katie Cat, did you drink an entire bottle of Pepper Up Potion?... Again?" Fred asked me.

"No!" I lept down from his arms, "I just wanna play!" I tugged on his sleeve like an impatient toddler.

"Then you'll be happy to see what I brought!" George held out his fanged Frisbee, and it glinted in the bright sunshine. He threw it with all his might, which considering his arm strength thanks to Quidditch practice, was very far.

I took this as a challenge. I sprinted off as fast as I could, arms pumping, bare feet pounding, tongue sticking out, I _would_ get to that Frisbee before it landed. I was going to get it! I stretched out my arm and made a final leap…but then an orange blur raced by me and snagged it from under my hand.

"FRED!" I screamed. Luckily I had enough momentum to bulldozer him to the ground. "I hate it when you do that!" I could hear George hooting with laughter in the distance.

"I'm sorry Katie-kins!" Fred said with a Weasley-esque grin from the ground, "You got this one." And with that he stood up and flung the Frisbee equally hard as his twin. And once again, I was off.

I'm not sure how long we played like that. Me, Fred, and George running around like maniacs barefoot, Alicia and Angelina laying by the lake gossiping and reading magazines. It was one of those afternoons you wish could last forever.

* * *

It's funny, because usually, I am bursting to the brim with too much energy. Hyper active, some people might say. Crazy, others might say. But the thing is that once I'm out of energy, I'm out. There's no in between for me. So after hours of Frisbee, which eventually turned into full contact tackle Frisbee, I was beat. I trotted over to Angelina and Alicia and flopped down next to them.

"Awww, tired Panda?" Angie always called me Panda when I'm in my tired moods. I had the misfortunate mistake of telling her that's what my older brothers called me when I was little once, and she's never forgotten it.

"I'm not tired!" I sighed. "Just…resting."

"Mhmm.." Alicia murmured, "And I'm the Minter of Magic."

The twins decided to join the pow-wow.

"Really Alicia! Why didn't you inform us?" George rolled over to her and snuggled right up to her side. George and Alicia have been going out since 3rd year. They're destined to be together forever, everyone knows it.

"You were too busy tackling people to notice, Georgie." She smiled at him. George nuzzled his head into the crook of her neck and started mock biting her.

"Ew you two, seriously get a room!" Angelina cried. Fred and I just booed.

I flipped over so that I was lying on my back, and looked up at the darkening sky. I was listening to my friends' conversation, but it was sounding more and more distant. My friends' voices were so soothing and comforting, punctuated by laughs and giggles. I knew my eyes were drooping, but just like in class earlier that day, I couldn't fight it.

At some point I obviously had fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, I was being lifted up by two strong arms, and craddeled like a baby. Like I said earlier, an advantage of being small is fitting in peoples arms. I was only half conscious but I heard a far off voice say

"Our little Katie's all tuckered out!"

"It's like she's energy bipolar or something!" Said another voice. Laughter rang in the evening air.

"Shh, you guys!" Said the closest and most comforting voice of all, "She's actually asleep, don't wake her." Fred readjusted me in his arms, and led the way back into the castle.


End file.
